Thoughts and ideas on small business, house rabbits, relationships with animals and life in general from Scot and Amy of Leith Petwerks Inc.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

What difference does it make?

Scot has invited me to join him on his BunnyGuy blog! Can I be called Bunny Girl? He says, "Sure!"

Sometimes I get down, and I wonder, "What difference does it make?" The problems that we humans create for animals often seem insurmountable. For every animal that is rescued and placed in a new home, another one (or worse, two) seems to appear. Unfortunately, this reality can lead to those days where your faith sort of falters. (Regardless of your "flavor" of faith, this happens!)

However, something always presents itself to restore that faith. I had a very poignant flash of clarity, a reminder of just what difference it makes, on Friday. I was sitting with Joe, our employee at Petwerks. He's an animal lover from way back, and he's really fallen for the buns. Now that we actually have our three fosters set up in the office, he's fallen in love with Dexi, a little dwarf/silver marten mix that was one of the Hillsboro bunnies. She's a firecracker -- not one bit timid, outgoing and sassy. Oh, and did I mention beautiful?

I was doing a hands-on Bunny Handling 101 with him and I was detailing for him how she was different from when she came to us. She was thinner then; she's still slim but she's muscled and firm. Her coat was dull and straw like back then, and now her fur is sleek and thick and shines almost like a mirror.

As I saw her snuggle down in his arms, I was reminded that our commitment to fostering a few rabbits has made the ultimate difference to her!

Each little bit helps. All issues, really, are dealt with through many little things. One reason we are in business is to help rabbits, and those who are working to help rabbits. We make donations whenever we can. Sometimes they are big deals, such as donating a condo to a rescue organization as a raffle item during their big summer education event. Sometimes it's a really big deal, such as our new grant program.

We do many much smaller things, however. Recently we helped BunnyRescue.net move some of their Men with Buns 2008 calendar. As it came time to return the proceeds, we chose not to keep "our cut" and in addition threw in a $100 cash donation. Bea, our contact for this project, was thrilled. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! Your generosity is absolutely stupendous!"

I wouldn't go that far... but the little things do add up.

So go out and do a little thing. It'll make a huge difference to somebun.